I mentioned this in my 2019 Reading Goals post, but I have so many grand plans for diversifying my reading, and it’s really hard not to make them all part of my goals for the coming year! So instead, since I still want to outline and articulate those goals, I thought I’d put them together in a post that’s more focused on the longterm than the short term.

My number one goal is to read more diversely, and while I’ve done a much better job of reading more books by authors of color, I definitely want to do better about accounting for mental illness, disabilities, sexuality, religion, chronic illness, fat representation, immigration, refugees, and ageism in my reading. I do better at some of these things than others, but they’re all things I want to keep in mind when curating my reading.

I think I’ve mentioned this before on my blog, but I like the idea of reading biographies for each of the U.S. presidents. I’m not entirely sold on this concept—there are some presidents I can’t imagine are that interesting, plus I don’t want to read exclusively about a bunch of dead, white Americans. But it’s a goal I’m working towards for now, focusing on the most notable presidents, and we’ll see where I’m at when I’ve read all of the big names.

Speaking of U.S. history, I’ve realized recently that immigration history is actually super fascinating and I’d like to learn more about it. I also have a whole slew of books about New York history that I’ve been wanting to read for ages and I’d finally like to get around to, especially because they stand in for bigger historical issues facing the United States as a whole and not just the U.S.

At the same time, I don’t want to focus too much on U.S. history, partly because there’s just so much out there to learn and partly because I don’t want to be your typical American focused too much on the United States at the exclusion of all else. So I definitely want to read more global history throughout my lifetime.

I’d also like to read more books by authors from around the world, whether or not they’re translated. It’s hard because it seems like so much romance and fantasy, two of my favorite genres, are predominantly written by American authors, but at the very least I can read more nonfiction books by foreign-born authors.

In addition to these goals, I’d like to reread more books! I read so many amazing books that I suspect I would get even more enjoyment out of on a reread, but I always get caught up in the new books and never revisit my favorites. I have no idea what percentage of books I read that I’d like to be rereads, but it definitely has to be more than the five to six percent I’ve been averaging the last couple of years.

Oh, and I’d like to read more from new genres. I noticed in reviewing the books I read this past year that I really enjoy science fiction, but I so rarely pick it up and know next to nothing about the genre. I should change that! And the same for mystery. I really enjoy a good mystery, but it always gets pushed to the side for all sorts of other genres.

I think that’s it? I say that as if these goals aren’t pretty substantial, but like I said, they’re meant to be lifelong reading goals. For now I’m choosing for focus on getting to a zero TBR so I break my habit of buying books and not reading them right away, but once I reach that goal, I’d like to turn my attention to more of these!

What are your lifelong reading goals? I’d love some inspiration (and reassurance that I’m not the only one who thinks this way!).